Alejandra
Beneath shining plate mail you hear the voice of a woman with a thick southern accent. "So long as you are safe, that is all that matters." Alejandra Rogaceu is a human paladin (with some fighter training) and army veteran from southern Laurasia. She favours armoured gauntlets and grappling styles in combat (which she also uses in duels), and she prefers non-lethal takedowns. She will also use her imposing presence and close-quarters combat style to terrify opponents into submission, and focuses the warmth of the sun's rays into a source of healing for herself and her allies. Alejandra stands at 6'7" and has dark skin and hair, as befits her desert-dwelling heritage. Her hair she keeps at a manageable shoulder-length and keeps it tied back into a braid which fits under a helmet. The rest of her body is covered head-to-toe in highly-polished full plate, which glints brightly in the sunlight, offers her supreme protection, and grants her a more imposing presence with which to intimidate foes. Her church worships Sarenrae, but her own beliefs sometimes fall at odds with those of her peoples' teachings, sometimes referring to the sun goddess as a being of "great cruelty". She speaks with a southern regional accent that occasionally causes her to mangle pronounciations of proper names from other regions (exemplified in her referring to the changeling killer Arcade as "ar-kaa-GEE"), and her own name she pronounces with a fluidity that others find indecipherable. Locals have taken to referring to her as "Allie". She does not speak of a home or family, but can be seen hiring messengers with great regularity, having them send letters and small trinkets from her adventures southward. Since her somewhat violent reaction to Dr. Haiduc's Harrowing making a reference to her past, she herself has been especially reluctant to bring it up, though it seems to be out of fear of lashing out again. Other triggers such as an oddly melancholic reaction to the sight of a flame-enchanted sword offered to her by the travelling merchant have been noted, but not yet elaborated upon. She also duels her martial combat-capable travelling companions with great regularity, citing a desire to see their "warriors' hearts" and focus her own skills. She goes all-out in these fights, using the same intimidation tactics she uses on her foes, but also takes care to heal her opponents when the fight is over. She claims her fight has taken her away from home because she wants to help the world become a more peaceful place, and she will be a shield to anyone else who feels the same way. After the Nightmare More recently, she was affected by a nightmare similar to the ones seen by others in Willowdale, she is rather hesitant to explain the contents of it beyond the fact that it took place in her home, and involved someone telling her "something he wasn't meant to." The only person she has revealed any more to was the Reverend Mother, telling her that the man in the dream told Alejandra of her son's death, though it wasn't the person whom Alejandra remembers telling her. The rest of the party has yet to ask for any more details, as further mention of her dream disturbs her greatly. She went so far as to request a chance to ask the spirits with which Jura communes if her family was in danger, despite Alejandra's misgivings about using Jura's gift to such a personal end. On engaging the lich in Ur-Nahash, Alejandra opted to charge in and keep the magic-user in a tight chokehold for the entirety of the battle, taking a full-force fireball and a magic missile to the side of the head without letting go before the rest of the party dissolved the lich's body. The party noted a particularly aggressive streak from her personality this time around, and she even growled a promise to the lich as he disintegrated: When told that the Necromancer had other followers, she responded with "Then you'll just be our first!" There is a suspicion that this necromancer has made things extremely personal with Alejandra because of the content of her dream, and she does seem more inclined to display a righteous fury in the face of his undead minions. Until Ravenswood On this adventure, Alejandra suggested travelling towards the Rheic Sea, and ended up following the group into Sosostriss' Tower after Rinzler discovered a means of controlling the portal in the cloakroom. Unfortunately, Alejandra's suggestion of commanding the portal to link them to the portal nearest to the Rheic Sea landed them in the Bone Ziggurat, where the party narrowly escaped the guardians in the portal room. When attempting to cross the River Dawn, Alejandra's lost her grip on the rope being used to help the party cross the river, and had to be rescued by Rinzler and Jura in water elemental form. Upon being rescued, she implored the unicorn the group encountered for help, and it led them to the druid circle of Ravenswood. She claimed to like riddles as a child when asked by the mysterious owl, but also admitted that she was quite poor at them. Nevertheless, she managed to confidently answer two of the riddles, and seemed quite pleased at the opportunity to solve problems with wits rather than force. She then traded her raven totem to Terminus for a bag of 14 freshwater pearls, citing a desire to be able to hear from him in case the Druids should ever be in danger or need to communicate with her. She has also been practicing the Litany of the Dead in her spare time. Thanks to a phonetic translation of the elven script courtesy of Rinzler, she has managed to successfully sing four of the five stanzas that unlock the scroll's power. Despite being untrained, she has a natural singing talent. Towards Deepen Dale Before departing for parts unknown, Alejandra opted to sing the Litany of the Dead in its entirety in an impromptu public performance at the Boar and Thistle. This had the dual benefit of unlocking the scroll's full potential, and giving Alejandra some coin which she donated to the poorbox in the Church of Yoma. The group then departed to the Doors to the North, where Alejandra used her chance to enter the crystal vault to get a set of Plate Mail of the Deep, which, rather fortuitously, fit her perfectly. On traveling to the Red Forest, she discussed the prospect of granting additional power to the armour with Dr. Haiduc, as she wanted to fortify it to match the power of her existing set of armour. After unlocking an elven tomb and acquiring some new goods, the group entered the Red Forest and attacked a chuul, with Alejandra being the unwitting target of an Enlarge Person spell from Dr. Haiduc. Upon concluding the fight, Alejandra opted to rather excitedly test her new armour on the waters of the Limnol Lake, where she swam for some time before engaging a choker trawling the bottom of the lake for shellfish. After capturing and interrogating the creature with the help of the other waterbound allies, Alejandra threw it back into the lake, citing an unwillingness to kill a helpless creature in cold blood, despite its evil nature. Their investigation more or less concluded, the party then traveled north, where Alejandra watched with rapt intrest as Dr. Haiduc performed an odd ceremony at the Shrine to Coyote. On raiding the Drunken Frith for rusted bronze goods, defending themselved from an attacking roc, and exploring Deepen Dale as far as its Druid Circle, the party then went briefly back to Ravenswood. There, Alejandra exchanged a few words with Terminus, insisting that he keep her Raven Figurine until such time as her help was needed. She then climbed an exceptionally large and inhabited tree, and spoke an ancient riddle to the wind upon reaching the top, expecting a response. When none came, she said she would return for the answer later. Titles *Bridge Breaker Category:Player Character